MERGANSER. 



»7i 



Red-breafted Merganfer, Ge>!. Syn. vi. p. 423. N° 3. 

 Mergus criflatus M. & Fern. Bruit. N" 94, 95. 



TN a male of one of ihefe, which was fliot near Sandwich, in 

 Kenty I obferved that the feathers which compofe the creft were 

 fimply black ; alfo down the middle of the crown, as well as the 

 fpace before the eye, and beneath the chin and throat; but in the 

 reft of the neck the black had a glofs of green. This fex is fur- 

 nifhed with a curious and large labyrinth. The windpipe, about 

 two inches from its entrance above, fwells out into an oval form, 

 of three times the width it before occupied, and continues fo for 

 about two inches j after which it refumes its firft fliape and fize, 

 and fo continues, to the divarication into the lungs ; at which 

 place it paffes through, and communicates with a bony labyrinth, 

 in fhape not unlike a heart, two inches and a quarter long by two 

 in breadth J one fide of which is perforated with two holes, 

 one of which is double the fize of the other, and both covered 

 with a pellucid membrane which is dilatable, and ferves to en- 

 large the cavity of the labyrinth at the will of the bird. 



3- 



•t-RED- 



BREASTED P. 



Smew, Gen. Syn. vi. p. 428. N" j. 



T HAVE once found a (e^ Jhrimps in the ftomach of one of 

 thefe birds. Mr. Jack/on informs me, that he has found it per- 

 feftly diftended with them, and that they are fuppofcd to be its 

 chief food. 



+- SMEW. 



Genus 



